Kolkata’s Indian Museum ties up with Google Cultural Institute to go online

Dated: May 25, 2016

Google Cultural Institute has announced its tie up with Kolkata’s Indian Museum to make its galleries available online with a 360-degree panoramic view. It will be easily available online. The art enthusiasts from all over the world can access its website when they digitalize the artifacts. The Indian Museum will be launching an exclusive e-version of it’s exquisite exhibition titled ‘Indian Buddhist Art’. Important highlights in the exhibit include a sculpture of the head of Buddha from the fifth century in Sarnath, which is featured even in school textbooks.

The GCI project from Google helps digitize historical exhibits, collections, galleries from museums all over the world and display it online in a viewable format. It was launched globally in 2011 and in India in 2012, by initially partnering with the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi. Currently, GCI works with more than 18 Indian institutions.

"This is the first virtual exhibition we are organising after which all our galleries will gradually be available on the Google Cultural Institute website and this will allow anyone to have a walk through the gallery and see it as you do it with your eyes. You can scroll around to see even the ceiling and the floor." museum director Jayanta Sengupta said.

One of the largest and oldest museums in India, the Indian Museum has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings. Curated by Dr Nathaniel Wallich, a Danish botanist, it was founded by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Kolkata in 1814. The tie-up is expected to boost the culture and heritage of the country around the world virtually.